One Rainy Day
by BrookieTheVampire
Summary: Ice Keller is an ordinary girl. Until she and her family - her, her mom, and her sister - are in a car crash that changes her life forever. Disclaimer- I own nothing except my OCs! -On hiatus until further notice-
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

I should have died that night; there was no doubt about that.

It's only because of sheer luck that I survived. If you call a vampaneze - blood cousins of the vampires - being near-by, close enough to get to you so he can change you before you die, luck, anyway. But I still have a feeling Destiny played a part in everything, too, no matter how small it was. After all, it's not every day that you meet a blood-sucker that doesn't turn out to be a monster disguised as a miracle.

I'd rather have died with my mom and little sister. They died on impact. I'd have died a few minutes later—a few seconds even—if he hadn't been there. Sometimes I hate that he found me, became my unlikely 'hero'. I wanted to die with them. Sometimes I still do.

But he saved me. Changed me into a half-vampaneze freak. Made me into what and who I am now. I don't hate him, really, I don't. It's just that sometimes… well, I wish he would have just left me on the oil slicked blacktop to bleed out. He could have, but he didn't want to for some reason unknown to even him. At least that's what he always tells me.

My name is Ice Keller and this is my story.

Chapter 1

Rain. That's all there was. Rain, rain, and more rain. Sure, the small rivulets running down the windows of the car were pretty at first, artistic even, but they became boring and monotonous quickly. Snow seemed fascinated by it all, though, so I feigned interest if only to keep her quiet for a while longer.

Me, my little sister Snow, and my mom were in the car, going out for dinner. My mother, Rain, hated the fat drops of water obscuring her vision of the road every once in a while. It was kind of ironic that Rain would hate rain, but I didn't want to say anything while she was in such bittersweet mood. She could be really mean when driving and it was just smarter not to push it with her. I continued starting out my window at the blackness of the night.

We were driving a few miles under the speed limit with the high-beams ablaze, the windshield wipers working furiously, and my mom's face nearly pressed to the windshield in concentration. The rain pounded against our little car even harder and my mom swore under her breath in what sounded like Russian as the road became even more blurred.

The rain began to come impossibly faster, and I was tempted to swear in the few bits of Russian my grandmother had taught me. But I knew my mom would probably pull off the road and 'beat the snot out of me' if I said anything of the kind, so I kept my mouth shut and eyes wide open.

The rain finally decided to play a dirty trick on us. It came swift enough for us to barely see the headlights of another car coming towards us, its own headlights glaring into the night.

But it wasn't in its own lane anymore. It was in ours.

I'd barely blinked before I heard my mom yelling at us to get down in the floor. Both my sister and I were too shocked to move, and I saw the raw panic and fear in my mother's gaze in the rearview mirror. It was as if she already knew what would happen to us. To me.

The reality of the situation had barely set in before my mom and sister were screaming. My mother was babbling away in Russian again, but this time I was able to pick out a few words I knew. She was pleading to God. Snow was screaming unintelligibly, clinging to my arm as if she was trying to amputate it with her bare hands. I just stared for what felt like eternity, begging within my head to whoever and whatever would listen. _Please don't let that be a car… don't let it hurt us… don't—_

The front of the car was destroyed, pressed back into us. The airbag deployed into my mom, whipping her neck back with its force, and I heard a crack. My mom, who had always been thin and fragile, who bruised and broke bones easy, didn't say anything past that point. I had heard her choked off cry, and then my sister screamed, "Mom!"

The car slid on the slick road, spinning, before going off the road and down the hill. We rolled the whole way down, the top of the car crunching in on us. Glass broke, and I felt the sting of the cuts but nothing else. I kept my eyes closed tight, my face turned into the back of the seat for more cover. I couldn't even hear my sister anymore, though something in my head told me that she had stopped screaming.

I should have protected her, or at least checked to make sure she would be okay. But I had been too busy working to keep myself alive. Self-preservation instincts suck.

A few more rolls, then the car halted to a stop, hitting something else. We were completely still, and the only sounds were my heavy breathing and the roar of a flooding river beside us. I thanked God that the car landed upright, though it was totaled, and finally opened my eyes, feeling numb. I prayed, prayed hard that we wouldn't move anymore and go into the river, and that the river wouldn't flood so far as to reach the car and submerge the whole thing.

What a horrible way to die, drowning. I shivered lightly, wincing as the small movement made my arm feeling as if it was on fire and deep-freezing at the same time. A scream felt like it wanted to rip its way out of my throat, but I couldn't seem to find my voice. The car creaked again, moving slightly. I braced myself in case it went completely off the edge and into the river now far below. But it didn't; it only moved a few inches at the most. Thank God my sister and I were safe.

I glanced over slowly at Snow, forcing a smile onto my face before she could see me. I wanted her to think everything was going to be okay. She wasn't moving. There was blood dripping from a cut on her forehead, her arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and her head was tilted back awkwardly. Her mouth was slightly open, and more blood was streaming from the corner. Those pale blue eyes I always envied her for were open and vacant, staring not quite at me or anything else. Just staring. It didn't seem like she was breathing… I couldn't see her chest moving. A half-choked sob escaped my throat.

I then moved my head further, trying to get a look at my mom.

Her usually milky white skin was stained with blood. Various cuts marred her beautiful arms and face. Her neck was twisted at an odd angle, too, and it didn't seem like she was breathing. Again, the same vacant stare, but this time angled as if she was looking out the window. Bruises were beginning to show, too, becoming an angry violet under the paling white of her flesh. I was happy that her mouth wasn't open, though I could see blood oozing through.

When I finally looked at myself, constantly ignoring the searing pains that came from every movement I made, I gagged. There was no way I was going to live much longer than my family… at least that's what I had thought at the time. And why couldn't I feel any of it. With a grimace at the burning sensation in my arm, I moved a single finger to touch my obviously injured leg. Nothing. It made me wonder if I was already dead. But wouldn't this have been Hell?

I hadn't been panicking before, but now, now I was. I now had no mother to take care of me, my sister was dead. I didn't have a father to care— he had left when I was just a small child.

Ok, first thing I had to do—take a deep breath! Then, I had to get out of this car. I was already soaked, a mixture of blood and of the rain that came in through the broken windows. The rain was letting up slightly, as if apologizing for being so nasty to my family. And then, I had to hope that I could find my cell phone - or a cell phone, mine, my mom's, my sister's – and that it wasn't dead or destroyed.

Gritting my teeth against the slowly growing pains blooming all over my body, I slowly turned my head to the side of the car where my sister was, trying not to look at her. Instead, I looked out the window, trying to see what had stopped us from going in the river. From the angle, it might have been a tree.

Then, slowly, I raised my right arm, nearly screaming from pain, and hoping to God that it would open, tried to open my car door. After a minute of shoving at it— and wincing every few seconds— it came open, creaking loudly in protest.

The rain had let up only slightly more.

I dragged myself out of the car and stopped. The rain water stung in my many cuts, causing me to sob louder.

Slowly, painfully, I crawled through the grass that probably hadn't been cut in years, to near the road somewhat. Hopefully, someone would find me and take me to the hospital. I had learned years ago that not everyone was keen on helping people they found on the side of the road, but I was hoping for a Good Samaritan of my own.

Less than halfway to the road, the pain was too much.

I looked up to the sky, now drowning in the pain wracking my whole body, and tried to scream. Nothing came from me. My eyes strayed to the flattened grass behind me; copious amounts of blood marked my path easier than the oddly flattened grass. It looked black, blacker than the night around me, blacker than the rain hitting me.

With a resigned sigh, I closed my eyes and tried to pull myself a bit farther. Nothing moved and I began to cry harder than ever, more from frustration and pain now than true sorrow. When I opened my eyes, gritting my teeth to the point that I was afraid I would crack them, too, I saw a dark figure looming ahead of me. It wasn't more than ten feet away, standing much taller than the rain-laden grass.

And it looked like a human being.

"Help… please…" I murmured, more than sure whoever it was couldn't hear me through the rain and river. Without waiting for an answer from the person, I closed my eyes and embraced the cold of the wet grass, letting everything go black.

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><p><strong>Hi people. So, this is my first fanfic on here! I'd really love it if someone would reveiw! <strong>

**I'd like to thank** **Romanticized Missile Fire**** for reading and editing this! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! First off, thank you all so much for reveiwing! It really means a lot that you all like this. Second, thanks so much to Romanticized Missile Fire for actually editing this first! So this chapter is in Gannen Harst's POV. Hope you guys like it! **

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><p>-Gannen's POV-<p>

To be perfectly honest, he hated rain. In all the decades he had been alive, rain had never gotten to be on his good side. The annoying little droplets of oddly flavored water seemed to poke at something inside of him, making him want to kill something. Not just kill, though. It had to be ripped apart and left in a bloody mess for others to find later. Yeah, that was how much he hated rained.

And it always got him into a sour mood that was hard to get back out of.

Gannen was travelling in the darkness near some city he hadn't bothered to learn the name of, dodging rain where he could. He was edgy, though it actually had little to do with the rain. Just lately, he and Steve had gotten into yet another argument in which he wasn't allowed to win, and now something was telling him to watch the road. Why? He didn't know, and he didn't really care. All he did knew was he had to or else he would continue to feel worse. Damn the rain, damn Steve, and damn that little voice inside his head. Damn them all.

With a bored snort and an inscrutable expression, the vampaneze moodily settled under a tree, flinching every time a nefarious droplet hit his body or head. Expressionless scarlet eyes focused blankly on the road. Well, if something's going to happen, then let it happen so I can get out of this rain! Gannen rested his chin on a single fist, trying to use some of his legendary patience for whatever Destiny had in store for him.

It was raining. Raining harder than before. The ground was slick, nasty and dark with the foul stuff. More and more stray droplets were weaving through the leaves of his tree and hitting him, making him twitch with barely restrained rage (though anyone looking at him wouldn't have seen any response from him), and he silently cursed the gods for the heaven-sent water. The vampaneze was struggling to stay where he was… until he saw the cars.

The first one he spotted with little interest was doing the usual human thing. 'Oh, it's raining! Time to drive slowly as if I've never seen this phenomenon before!' That's what they always did. Gannen could barely make out three shadowy figures inside, two in the back seat and one in the front. The one in the front was leaning forward as if studying the road intently, and Gannen let out a humorless chuckle. He didn't miss being an overly worrisome human at all!

And then there was another car, moving much faster than the usual speed limit. The faintest sound of guitars, drums, and a deep voice drifted through the air. The vampaneze grinned at the familiar sound. He had become quite the fan of the some of the newer styles of music, and this group happened to be a favorite. With an unnoticeable sigh, Gannen closed his eyes for a half second, letting the soothing sounds of Duality* caress his tense mind and body.

The vampaneze barely registered that the two cars were in the same lane, just going in different directions. Odd. Weren't humans supposed to be the safe one with overused rules that were entirely too coddling for the masses? Most people weren't daring like vampires and vampaneze, so why were they—

They slammed together suddenly, causing Gannen to startle and rise. The first car skidded off the road, flipping over a few times before being stopped by a small tree that bent back slightly from the sudden weight. The injured tree and even more injured vehicle were near a steadily rising river and surrounded by waist-high grasses. The other car slammed into an electricity pole, wrapping around it as if it was made out of putty. Oddly enough, the music continued for a few more moments before winding down eerily.

A sudden sense of heroic intent squeezed Gannen's brain, and he forced himself to sit down. He wasn't about to go traipsing into a common occurrence for the human world to check on the people. They were sure to be dead by now anyways… and if they were alive, what good would his interference do? Gannen Harst was capable of only one thing when it came to humans. Well, mainly one thing. And that was killing them.

As far as he was concerned, they were doing a pretty good job of it without his drinking ability.

But he watched anyway, something inside of him still telling him to focus. Now, however, it was being more insistent and distinct about what it wanted him to watch. He turned his focus away from the car hugging the pole to look purposefully (though still uninterestedly) at the massacred vehicle. One almost couldn't tell what car it had been, and nothing seemed to be moving.

It seemed that the person in the front – a woman, by the looks of her through the broken windows—was already dead, her neck bent at an unnatural angle and blood all over her. The smell of it was intoxicating, though he had just feasted on a man not four days before. Yes, the man's blood had been sickly sweet, but Gannen had thought of himself as a sort of hero for the town by killing him. After all, what city really needed a homosexual pedophile in their midst? He was sure the homeless children he saw sleeping in the streets were relieved not to be plagued by the unnatural predator any longer.

He began to squint through the rain and darkness, annoyed that his heightened senses didn't seem capable of making out the backseat passengers. They were probably dead, too, but he was still curious as to who they were and if they were dead yet. Maybe he could save the memories of one of them, especially seeing as that little voice inside his head was pushing him to check.

That little voice was beginning to be quite the annoyance. Gannen hated having a semi-humanitarian conscience. It just didn't make sense for a human killer to think like his prey, but he just did. Not all the time, mind you, but it always seemed to strike at the most inopportune moments. Like right then as he gazed at the wreckage and smelled the blood.

Then came the sound of a pained human over the deafening pitter-patter of the rain. Female, probably, and not too very old, but definitely alive for now. He doubted she still would be by the time he got off his butt to investigate like his conscience was screaming for him to do. With a grunt, Gannen raised himself off the wet ground and approached the vehicle slowly.

Steve was so going to be pissed off if his vampaneze cohort brought home a dying human pet. But what did he care about the half-vampaneze for? The kid was a bastard on his best days, and a complete asshole on his worst. Gannen wasn't so much afraid of his silly attitude as much as he was afraid that Steve wouldn't talk to him anymore. The kid had threatened as much before and created such a fear in the stoic vampaneze's mind. He liked Steve, attitude and all. He didn't want to lose his friendship when it was always so hard to make friends in the first place. And he was intelligent to boot, so the conversations were good. Gannen really hoped the girl in the car was dead or dying now.

One of the doors slowly opened, serenading the man's sensitive ears with the beautiful music of steel scraping steel. A girl crawled out slowly, dragging a broken leg and trailing blood. Yeah, she was definitely dying. The scent of blood mixing with rain was nauseating as Gannen crept forward, his eyes locked on the struggling form.

The girl moved slowly, and by the faint whimpers, painfully. She was less than half way to the road when she stopped moving, sobbing from the sound of it. What a weakling. Any person of strength wouldn't have given up, even while bleeding out faster than a gutted rat. He strolled faster and came to a standstill not ten feet from her, staring at her with his poker face firmly in place. Oddly enough, he wanted to smile at such a show of weakness, no matter how callous such an expression would be.

The grass was flattened out where she had crawled, and dyed a glistening dark red. Watery blood continued to assault his nose, but he didn't move. She was trying to drag herself farther, mustering her waning strength in a manner Gannen had never seen happen in a human. By the sounds of the angry moans, such small movement took balls. He no longer had the urge to grin at her, but instead felt he should save such a strong soul.

Make up your mind, Harst. Save the little human or watch her die with glee? You flip flop more than a vampire does on whether or not to drink a sip or a gulp. Jesus Christ.

Then the girl opened her eyes, her head lifting to look straight at him. "Help... Please..." She murmered softly before her eyes closed again.

Her eyes were probably the most striking feature about her that had nothing to do with the car crash. Gannen found her eyes to be oddly hypnotic. It wasn't very often that he saw human eyes that looked like liquid mercury edged with charcoal grey. In the darkness, they had almost seemed a silvery white, and that little something inside the vampaneze pushed him to save the girl even if it was only to see her eyes again. Gannen Harst liked unusual things, always had, and those eyes definitely were that.

He stood there, wondering what to do. Be the vampaneze and leave her to die, or be the good person he knew had inside somewhere and save her life? She wasn't as weak as she had looked from afar, though still much too skinny to be considered strong in most senses of the word.

Save her... Something in his head whispered.

Why? He asked the voice. With a bark of sardonic laughter, Gannen fleetingly analyzed that he had come so far as to talk to himself when he was away from Steve. Maybe he was preparing himself for the little turd to just waltz away and leave him as the lonely, friendless vampaneze again. Or maybe he was becoming another Murlough. Oh gods, he hoped he'd never turn out like that guy. He didn't want a snake fetish.

Save her... It's her Destiny...

He hesitated, then quickly— before she bled to death – picked her up, one arm under her legs and one under her shoulders. Steeling himself for the reaction he would receive later from Steve, he began to run. Then sprint. Finally, when he began to flit, he looked at the girl's face. With a little bit of help, she would be able to look semi-normal again. But he doubted she would ever be considered a part of any human group… a broken nose and one shattered cheekbone tended to do that to a person.

Becoming a half-vampaneze tends to make them different, too.

Gannen told the voice to give it a rest for the night. The last thing he needed was to blood yet another trouble maker 'for his/her own good'. And yet he still knew that it would have to be done or else he would have left her to die in that grass like he had done to so many other people before. Sometimes, just sometimes, it didn't pay to have a heart hidden within his nonchalantly suave exterior.

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><p><strong>Hate it, like it? Maybe love it? Please, review and tell me what you thought! I'll try to update ASAP!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

-Ice's POV-

The car smashed into us, forcing us off the rain slicked road. Our small car rolled a few times, and stopping before nearly going into the over flowing river right beside us. A young tree had stopped our descent into the dark raging waters, and for that I very thankful. But the lack of screams coming from anyone but myself was something I doubted I could or ever would be very thankful for.

I glanced over slowly at Snow – my little sister – forcing a smile onto my face before she could see me. I wanted her to think everything was going to be okay. But she wasn't moving. There was blood dripping from a cut on her forehead, her arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and her head was tilted back awkwardly, but I hadn't thought she would be so direly injured that she wouldn't move. Her mouth was slightly open, and more blood was streaming from the corner. Those pale blue eyes I always envied her for were open and vacant, staring not quite at me or anything else. Just staring. It didn't seem like she was breathing… I couldn't see her chest moving. A half-choked sob escaped my throat when I finally realized what was wrong. My sister was dead.

I then moved my head further, trying to get a look at my mom. Every movement hurt, but I doubted it was so bad for me that I would die very soon. Maybe my mom would be able to call the police or something. When I saw her, though, I felt like I would vomit.

Her usually milky white skin was literally coated with a thin, viscous film of blood. Various cuts marred her beautiful arms and face. Her neck was twisted at an odd angle, just like Snow's, and it didn't seem like she was breathing either. Again, the same vacant stare, but this time angled as if she was looking out the window. Bruises were beginning to show, too, becoming an angry violet under the paling white and red of her flesh. I was happy that her mouth wasn't open, though I could see blood oozing through the thin gap naturally there.

Sobbing, I looked down at myself, barely noticing that I wasn't hurt very much, when I definitely should have been. All I could think was that I was supposed to be dead. Slowly, I opened my car door – it didn't hurt as badly as my other movements had been, which really surprised me – and got out, actually able to walk. The rain still poured down, drenching me completely. My whole body was shaking, and I was having trouble supporting myself, but I walked halfway to the edge of the road I could barely make out, when a loud roaring sound caught my attention.

I turned back around, in time to see the river over flow completely and sweep my car away. Sobbing even harder now, I buried my head in my hands. About a half minute later, I looked back up, sniffling, and then screamed.

My mom and sister were standing there, looking about the same as they had in the car. Blood was being washed away from their chilled, broken bodies, but the obvious broken bones on them became more apparent without the blood. Snow's left ankle had been snapped, and she was standing directly on the bone, her foot at a nearly perfect right angle to her shin. Her shoes sole was pointed off to her left and slightly toward me. One of her shoulders looked displaced, sticking out weirdly as her cheek nearly rested upon it. She was smiling at me, her eyes still blank.

Mom was standing with a broken arm flung over Snow's shoulder and no expression on her face. Her jaw was broken, on the right, making her face lopsided as her whole head lolled to the side. The other arm was shredded, and I couldn't tell whether she still had a hand or not. The way hers and Snow's heads seemed to lean towards each other's bodies made them look like they were posing for an overdone mother-daughter photo.

They stared at me, Snow just continuing to smile creepily with her blank eyes trained on me, and my mother's lips moving, whatever she was saying being whipped away by a sudden gust of wind and rain. Shaking my head with disbelief (but only minimal fear for some weird reason), I backed up, and bumped into something… something that felt like a man! I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth and nose, suffocating me and forcing me to look at my deceased family.

They weren't standing anymore, though. They were dead on the ground, they mouths open in a silent screams, eyes glazed. They looked more broken and sad than they had standing up, but somehow much more frightening. Like how the body of a loved one when they're dressed up and in a fancy coffin is so much worse to view than the body when it was exactly how it was at the point of death. They were more gruesome, more real, and deader. They had been less believable standing up… and now that they lay as dead people were supposed to, I feared them more. I understood more then.

My family was dead, and I was not.

The figure holding me leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "Welcome to my world, kitten." It was the voice of a man, much older than any other man I had heard while still sounding young. His breath brushed across my face colder than the wind around me, and I shivered, suddenly cold.

At his last word, the ground around my mother and sister's bodies began to ripple, cracking open in hundreds of small areas to let loose a swarm of cadaver consuming insects and maggots. They crawled in jerking, undead movements as if their very steps and squirms came from the lightning strikes every few seconds in the sky. When they had almost reached the bodies, I closed my eyes as tightly as possible, willing everything away.

But I could still see them. They were taking away what was left of my old life… leaving me with nothing at all. Or at least that's what I thought at the time.

The old-yet-young voice spoke into my ear again, this time with warm breath and a tone that made me wonder if maybe what I was entering into was actually what I meant to have rather than my old life. Like I was meant to have heard the man behind me, the man who was suffocating me though I could still feel my heart beating strong without the breaths. Like I was meant to be with this man, though the feeling of it made no sense. I didn't know him, so why did I feel so comforted with him near me? He felt like a long lost best friend…

I hadn't bothered to listen to his words for some reason, but I knew that whatever they had been, they had created that comfort. My world wasn't so lonely, nor was it as cold and malevolent anymore. I still missed my mother and sister but I felt I could carry on without them. I could carry on with this unknown man with the strange voice and the almost nonexistent touch. That was, until he brought both hands to my head and jerked.

A resounding snap and body shattering pain spread through me before the entire world melted into a warm, dark, liquid void. The pounding of blood boomed around me, making me smile faintly. I was safe now. My mother would protect me. She had to… for I was unable to protect myself. Even she knew I was too small, too vulnerable, too weak to do anything for myself. That was why she shared her blood with me, why she shared her body, why she shared her very life with me. I was her baby. And I would be forever and ever.

But then I began to feel that whoosh of her heart beat falter. It stuttered like a nervous child before a crowd of bullies and finally failed, leaving my moist darkness feeling more like a blind prison than a safe zone. After a few moments, I felt myself suffocating, weakening; I was dying… so I did what I knew had to be done. I kicked, thrashed, silently screamed, and generally made a fuss in hopes that something or someone would let me out. But at the same time, I didn't want to be let out. I felt safe and in danger. And I knew I would die if I stayed in there.

A ripping sound first, then a bright light attacking my oversensitive eyes… and I began to scream. Really scream. When hands touched my forehead, I screamed louder and higher.

The hand didn't go away.

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><p><strong>Ah...Guys...This update is so long overdue...I'm so sorry DX What's it been...? Three months now? Please don't kill me! DX <strong>

**Since it's Christmas break I might be able to get in another chapter soon. Hopefully the chapters will be coming a little faster. **

**Again, so so so sorry DX **

**Please review? You can yell at me...Just don't kill me... **

**Oh, btw, this chapter was Ice's dream.**

**Oh, and Merry -early- Christmas! **


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